Credit Suisse expands into UK ETF market September 15, 2010 COMPETITION in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market stepped up another notch yesterday when Swiss bank Credit Suisse launched 45 ETFs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), solidifying its European presence and paving the way for a global launch of its ETF product. For the past decade, new arrivals in the European ETF space have been [...]
Use forex products to gain as Japan wrestles the yen September 15, 2010 THE yen lurched downwards 2.4 per cent versus the dollar and 2.8 per cent against the euro yesterday as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) waded into the forex markets to weaken the currency. While many institutional investors are not permitted to bet directly on forex, a wide range of currency-tracking products enable them to benefit [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TESCO ADVANCES IN CARREFOUR ASIAN AUCTION Tesco is among the bidders through to the second round of the auction for Carrefour’s south-east Asian assets, which are for sale for up to $1bn (£642m). Tesco, the world’s third-biggest supermarket chain by sales after Walmart and Carrefour, was one of more than 10 first-round bidders [...]
Unloved European equities are cheap and attractive September 14, 2010 IT WAS not so long ago that European equities were underloved and underowned. A combination of the sovereign debt crisis and fears of a patchy economic recovery saw investors dumping European-listed stocks in favour of almost anything else. Global fund allocations to European equities languish at around 13 per cent, close to the lows of [...]
FX MARKETS ARE POWERED BY BEIJING September 14, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT As I prepare for my “all-things-forex” seminar with Allister Heath on 23 September between 8 and 10am at the Grange Hotel (register at gftuk.com/cityam), I can’t help but marvel at the idea that China is now the primary driver of trade in the FX market. Although its own currency is [...]
Rate rises and risk appetite to boost the krona September 14, 2010 A WESTERN central bank able to raise interest rates without sparking concerns of excess monetary tightening is still something of a rarity. But the Swedish Riksbank has been able to do just that. Earlier this month, it raised rates to 0.75 per cent and signalled that it intended to increase them to 1.75 per cent [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS September 14, 2010 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Stay short cable from $1.55; long euro-dollar above $1.2925 Expertise: Combining fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day-1 week We have seen lots of volatility this past week; but a clear direction on underlying trends is still eluding us. Short-term setups are what I’m looking [...]
Why regulations are never a panacea September 13, 2010 ONE of the biggest problems with the financial system in the run-up to the financial crisis was insufficient liquidity, as well as insufficient capital. The difference between the two is crucially important: one might have plenty of capital reserves, but if these cannot be accessed then a crisis remains guaranteed (unless the central bank steps [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CALLS FOR RYANAIR TO AXE BOSS Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has for years endured complaints from passengers about his famously no-frills Irish airline. Now a senior Ryanair pilot has taken the rare step of publicly challenging his boss after the outspoken chief executive said he was trying to convince authorities to let his aircraft [...]
Chinese stake purchase boosts WPP’s expansion September 13, 2010 Advertising giant WPP yesterday announced that it has taken a majority stake in Chinese retail marketing consultancy DPI through one of its wholly owned subsidiary companies in the region G2. The company refused to say how much it was paying for the stake, but the move continues its investment in China which is currently WPP’s [...]